NORWAY – Former SAD 17 board member Mike Marshall has told selectmen it’s too soon to appoint him to a school reorganization planning committee after last week’s unsuccessful meeting between SAD 17 and SAD 39 officials.

“I think it’s a little premature,” Marshall told selectmen at their meeting Thursday.

He was reacting to a two-and-one-half-hour meeting in Paris with state Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and about 100 school and town officials, and residents from the 11 towns in the SADs 17 in Oxford and 39 in Buckfield.

At the end of the meeting, SAD 39 found itself with little hope of consolidating with SAD 17. The new state law requires that reorganization planning committees comprise representation from schools, municipalities and the general public.

Although schools with more than 2,500 students, such as SAD 17, will not be required to reorganize, the Department of Education is encouraging officials to explore all options, in this case a merger with SAD 39.

But because last week’s meeting failed to bring about an agreement to discuss a consolidation, SAD 17 will probably not revise its alternative plan to stand alone.

“It’s a moot question right now until the state can come back and tell us where the $600,000 to $1.2 million will come from,” said Selectman Les Flanders, referring to the amount of money it’s estimated SAD 17 taxpayers will have to pick up to take up the amount of financial slack from SAD 39. “If we consolidated it’s going to cost the citizens.”

Marshall said the savings for SAD 17 simply aren’t there, in his opinion. “Repeatedly the commissioner was asked where the money is coming from,” Marshall said.

Selectmen agreed to not take any action on the appointment at this time.